Effects of the Physiological Age of Bananas on Their Susceptibility to Wound Anthracnose Due to Colletotrichum musae

Abstract

Wound anthracnose, caused by Colletotrichum musae, and early ripening are the main problems affecting the quality of export bananas (Musa AAA Cavendish) from the Caribbean. These problems generally concern bananas grown in lowland plantations during the rainy season. Three experiments were carried out to study the influence of the physiological age of bananas, calculated on the basis of mean daily temperature sums, on their susceptibility to anthracnose. Stressful growing conditions, especially soil flooding, slowed fruit growth but had no direct effect on fruit susceptibility to C. musae or on the green life. However, fruit that had accumulated lower temperature sums were less susceptible to wound anthracnose. By varying the source-sink ratio, we show that bananas of the same grade but different physiological ages had markedly different susceptibility to C. musae. Bananas with the same temperature sum accumulation but grown in different soil-climate conditions had different levels of susceptibility. Fruit grown in cooler, highland areas were less susceptible to C. musae than fruit of the same physiological age from lowland plantations. Our results suggest that temperature sum accumulation rate is a critical factor affecting the susceptibility of bananas to the pathogen.

The susceptibility of bananas to crown rot disease is influenced by geographical and seasonal effects

“…Bananas grown in both low-altitude plantations (Dia-dia and Koumba) were more susceptible to crown rot than those grown in the high altitude plantation (Ekona). Similarly, bananas grown in highland plantations in Guadeloupe were found to be less susceptible to wound anthracnose (Chillet et al, 2006(Chillet et al, , 2007. Because of low temperatures, fruits grown in high altitudes take more time to reach 900 dd than fruits grown in low altitudes.…”

“…Both components depend on pre-harvest factors including agronomic practices and soil-climate factors (Chillet & de Lapeyre de Bellaire, 1996;Chillet et al, 2000;Lassois et al, 2010b). Alternative control methods as well as any control measures should rely on a better understanding of these pre-harvest factors as previously shown for wound anthracnose, another post-harvest disease of bananas (de Lapeyre de Chillet et al, 2006Chillet et al, , 2007. However, little is known about pre-harvest factors which influence the post-harvest development of crown rot disease.…”

Integrated control of crown rot of banana with Candida oleophila strain O, calcium chloride and modified atmosphere packaging

“…Experiments were conducted with healthy-looking mature and unripe banana fruits (Musa acuminata AAA, cv Grande Naine, Cavendish subgroup) obtained (a) for monitoring the yeast population dynamics, from a commercial source in Belgium just before the ethylene treatment or (b) for the biocontrol assays, from the second and third hands of 20 bunches, just harvested at the same physiological age of 900 degree-days (Chillet et al, 2006) and collected in a packing shed in Cameroon (Dia-Dia, ''Plantations du Haut Penja" PHP, Njombé).…”

Biological control of crown rot of bananas with Pichia anomala strain K and Candida oleophila strain O

“…Bananas were harvested from March to June 2003 at the CIRAD experimental station (Neufchâteau) in Guadeloupe, France. As susceptibility to some post-harvest diseases depends on banana physiological age (Chillet et al, 2006), all fruits were harvested at the same physiological age of 900°C day according to the method described by Ganry (1978). Five homogenous bunches were harvested in the morning on the day each experiment began.…”